Who was the populist party candidate for president?
The Populist Party (originally the People's Party) was
established in 1891 when the Knights of Labor and Farmers' Alliance
joined forces. The party advocated the public ownership of the
railroads, steamship lines and telephone and telegraph systems. It
also supported the free and unlimited coinage of silver, the
abolition of national banks, a system of graduated income tax and
the direct election of United States Senators.
William Peffer of Kansas and Tom Watson of Georgia became the
party's first Senators in 1891. The following year, the party's
presidential candidate, James Weaver, received 1,041,028 votes and
won four states. In the mid-term elections of 1894 the party
received 1,400,000 votes and elected six Senators and seven
Representatives.
In the 1896 presidential election the leaders of the Populist
Party entered into talks with William J. Bryan, the proposed
Democratic Party candidate. They thought they had an agreement that
Tom Watson would become Bryan's running mate. After giving their
support to Bryan he announced that Arthur Sewall, a conservative
politician with a record of hostility towards trade unions, would
be his vice presidential choice. This created a split in the
Populist Party, some refused to support Bryan whereas others, such
as Mary Lease, reluctantly campaigned for him.
The defeat of William J. Bryan severely damaged the Populist
Party. While Populists continued to hold power in a few Western
states, the party ceased to be a factor in national politics.
Under the leadership of Tom Watson the party moved to the right.
He denounced socialism and called for the reorganization of the Ku
Klux Klan. He was the party's presidential candidate in 1904 but
won only 117,183 votes. The party's fortunes continued to decline
and in the 1908 presidential campaign, attracted only 29,100
votes.